THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER TWO
SAMKHYA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF KNOWLEDGE
VERSE NUMBER 39:
Text in Transliteration:
eshaa te ‘ bihitaa saamkhye
budhhir yoge tv
imam srnu
buddhyaa yukto yayaa paartha
karma bandham
prahaasyasi
Text in English:
The ideal of Self-knowledge has been presented to you.
Hearken now to the practice thereof. Endowed with it, O Partha, you will break
through the bonds of Karma.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI CHIDBHAVANANDA:
The principles of self-knowledge have been enumerated in the
verses 11 to 30. Yoga or the practice thereof will now be taught in the verses
40, 42m 45to 53
Samkhya is one of the six systems of philosophy pertaining
to Hinduism. Its origin is attributed to the sage kapila. The literal meaning
of the word samkhya is enumeration. According to this system prakriti is
constinuted of twenty-four categories and Purusha or Atman is the twenty-fifth.
Purushas again are infinite in number. But Sri Krishna uses the word samkhya to
indicate self-knowledge. His concept of yoga is comprehensive of all the forms
of sadhanas through the path of karma predominates among them.
Theory and practice are the two aspects of every branch of
knowledge. Of these two, the former pertains to the intellectual grasp and
clarification while the latter to the translation of it into action. One is the
pure science and the other, the applied science. An architect conceives of an
edifice. At that stage it is theory. When he actually builds it he gives it a
practical shape. Samdhya and yoga are the theory and practice of religion. They
do not come into conflict one with the other. They augment each other. Rare
indeed it is to know of the glory of Atman. And life gets enriched as Atman is
known. Yoga is none other than living the life abundantly. By the practice of
yoga mind grows in purity. To the purified mind the concept of Atman becomes
progressively lucid. This is how Janana and yoga mutually aid.
Truth pertaining to Atman have to be enquired into. What is
known therby has to be put into practice. Some simply enquire about Atman
without connecting that enquiry with life. Others plunge in life without caring
to know the principles that govern it. But harmonising both is what is wanted.
COMMENTARY BY
DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
Samkhya in the Gita does not mean the system of philosophy
known by that name; nor does Yoga mean Patanjalayoga. The scholastic version of
the Samkhya is frank dualism of purusha (Self) and prakrity (not self) which is
transcended in the Gita, which affirms the reality of a Aureme Self who is the
Lord of all. Samkhya gives an intellectual account of the intuition of the
unchanging One. It is yoga of knowledge. The yoga of action is karma yoga. See
III, 3. The knowledge hitherto described is not to be talked about and discussed
academically. It must become an inward experience. In the Gita, Samkhya lays
stress on knowledge and renunciation of desire and yoga on action. How is one
who knows that the self and body are distinct, that the self is indestructible
and unmoved by the events of the world, to act? The teacher develops buddhiyoga
or concentration of buddhi or understanding. Buddhi is not merely the capacity
to frame concepts. It has also the function of recognition and discrimination. The
understanding or buddhi must be trained to attain insight, constancy, equal-mindedness
(smataa). The mind (manas), instead of
being united to the senses, should be guided by buddhi which is higher than
min. III, 42. It must become united to buddhi (buddhiyukta)
The influence of the scholastic Samkhya which was in the
making at the time of the Gita is here evident. According to it, the purusha is
inactive, the bondage and liberation do not belong to it in reality. They are essentially
the work of buddhi, one of the twenty-four cosmic principles. Out of prakriti
evolve successively five elemental conditions of matter, ether, air fire, water
and earth, five subtle properties of matter, sound, touch, form taste and
smell, buddhi or mahat which is the discriminating principle of intelligence and
will, ahamkaara or self-sense, and mind with its ten sense functions, five of knowledge
and five of action. Liberation is achieved when buddhi discriminates between
purusha and prakriti. This view is adapted to the Gita theism. Buddhi is the
driver or the chariot of the body drawn b the horses of the senses which are
controlled by the reins of mind (manas). The self is superior to bddhi but is a
passive witness. In the Katha Upanishad, buddhi is the charioteer which
controls the senses through the mind and enables it to know the self. If the
buddhi is lit up by the consciousness of the self and makes it the master-light
of its life, its guidance will be in harmony with cosmic purpose. If the light
of the atman is reflected in buddhi in a proper way, that is, if the buddhi is
cleared of all obscuring tendencies, the light will not be distorted, and
buddhi will be in union with the spirit. The sense of egoism and separateness
will be displaced by a vision of the harmony in which each is all and all is
each.
Samkhya and yoga are not in the Gita discordant systems. They
have the same aim but differ in their methods.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
Lord Krishna taught Jana (knowledge) to Arjuna till now.
(Sankhya yoga is the path of Vedanta of Jana yoga, which treats of the natre of
the Atma or the Self and the methods to attain Self-realisation. It is not the
Sankhya philosophy of sage Kapila) He is now going to teach Arjuna the technique
or secret of Karma Yoga endowed with which he (or anybody else) can break
through the bonds of Karma. The Karma Yogi should perform work without
expectation of fruits of his actions, without the idea of agency (or the notion
of ‘I do this’), without attachment, after annihilating or going beyond all the
pairs of opposites such as heat and cold , gain and loss, victory and defeat,
etc. Dharma and Adharma, or merit and demerit will not touch that Karma Yogi
consecrates all his works and their fruits as offerings unto the Lord
(Isvararpanam) and thus obtains the grae of the Lord (Isvaraprasada).
Comments of the blogger:
As has been repeatedly said by one and all, sage Kapila’s
system of samkhy yoga has nothing to do with the way Sri Krishna uses the term.
Principally Kapila means by samkhya with enumeration. But Sri Krishna uses the
term for Self-knowledge. And, up till now, He has taught samkhya or the
knowledge about the Self or Atman. Hereafterward He is going to teach the yoga
or practice of the wisdom of Self-knowledge.
Sri Krishna joins Knowledge with practice.
By yoga, He means the proper way of indulging in action. Because,
this world is filled with actions and no action in itself is good or bad or no
action in itself is bringing bondage. It all depends on the way we do an action
that it becomes good or bad or liberating or bondage-begetting. By carrying out
the preordained actions by one in a manner which is sans of desire for the
fruits thereof, and offering the fruits to the Lord as naivedhyam or offering
in worship, we obtain liberation. If we desire the fruits of the action then we
become bonded to this pracrity which is full of actions and come here again and
again to enjoy the good or bad fruit of the actions. If we indulge in actions
as per the teachings of Sri Krishna, then the action becomes His action and the
fruits go to Him. if we desire the fruits of the action, or indulge in this
worldly life as an individual, then the actions become our actions. Then the accruement
of good and bad effects or fruits has to be enjoyed by us without fail. So the
number of rebirths gets increased. So action without expectation of the fruit
thereof is going to be taught by Sri Krishna in the ensuing verses.
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